21: The Great Escape
by Silent Elegy
Summary: Walker has been captured by the GiW. Seemingly, this is cause for celebration; but without someone to keep order, the human world is being overrun by ghosts. A rescue is in order. Those two human kids aren't what Bullet had in mind, but with Danny gone...
1. Prologue

Almost forgot my disclaimer: Danny Phantom and all related characters are the product of Butch Hartman and Nickelodeon studios. Django, though loosely inspired by a character of the same name from the game Ergheiz, is the product Silent Elegy.

A/N: So I have a conundrum. Basically, the third season screwed up my personal canon (which is part of why I stopped writing for so long, though certainly not the bulk of the reason), but I don't want to throw it out completely because it had some great moments. So, I've decided that while I will allude to episodes having happened, I'm going to handwave the bits that contradict things I've written.

For instance, Reality Trip had Danny causing his parents to forget that he's Danny Phantom and return things to normal. In my canon, Maddie already knew and, much like Jazz did, was waiting for him to tell her himself. So she went back to quietly knowing instead of completely forgetting.

* * *

Somewhere in the Ghost Zone, there are portals into the human world. One was closed firmly against all intrusion by a heavy door made of ectoplasmically reinforced steel. One was closed, though less firmly, by a steel door and surrounded by broken, orange and white police barricades. One was only recently opened; its security consisted of some attentive guards on the human side. They were very attentive guards, though, and when the odd, monochrome spook appeared in their midst screaming "Hide me!" they were quick to subdue him.

His cries told them that someone was chasing him; the question was, would that someone come through their gate as well? Several minutes passed while they stood at the ready, then, just as they were about to relax again, the gate pulsed and a tall, white ghost in a black fedora came through. He wasn't alone, but his allies either vanished or escaped when he was subdued. They waited, but that was the last of the day's excitement.

The next day, a message tied to a glowing rock flew through the portal. "Release Walker," it read, "or suffer the consequences. You have 24 hours." The message made the rounds of the compound, and everyone had a good laugh.

The day after that, the war began. No ghosts invaded, but their energy blasts did, firing blindly through the portal. The guards fired back, aiming where shots had come through in the hopes of catching the attackers. Reinforcements came and went as people were injured. Hours went by. Eventually, the attacks tapered to a halt. The agents congratulated themselves on a job well done.

* * *

Somewhere in the Ghost Zone is a prison. Normally, it's filled with guards and prisoners, but only one was left. He stalked the slowly fading walls and considered his options. The last of the guards had vanished during the attack, and without Walker to maintain the prison, it wouldn't last much longer. Bullet knew he wouldn't stand a chance against Guys in White, considering the speed with which they had taken down the warden.

But perhaps, he could force someone to do his work for him.


	2. Chapter One

It was summer vacation, finally. And properly vacation, at that; with Freakshow dealt with, and their cross country chase completed, Sam thought it was finally time to relax. Unfortunately, since she'd forgone the opportunity to go on the Fenton Family Vacation, it also meant putting up with Tucker's begging.

"Come on!" he said over the phone. "Just until I get the new weapon!"

Sam rolled her eyes, fingers dancing across her keyboard as she ended the virtual lives of people half the world away. "Tucker, I'm not going to help you cheat," she reiterated.

"It's not cheating," he protested. His in-game avatar rolled into the open, firing wildly at Sam, and was promptly vaporized by another user. "It's mutually beneficial rewards grinding."

"It's not mutually beneficial if I already have it." She tossed a grenade at someone who was trying to kill her healer. "Why don't you just join a grind server?"

"I don't want to do that. Those people are cheating noobs." He didn't seem at all aware of the irony.

"Oh, Samantha!" called a voice from downstairs, eliciting a pained groan.

Sam fired off a message to her healer that she was leaving and waited for him to find another protector. "My mom," she answered Tucker's prompt. "I'll talk to you later."

"Later," Tucker replied, entirely too cheery at the prospect of her not being around to slaughter his teammates.

"One of your little friends is here," Mrs. Manson explained. She seemed oddly delighted, but before Sam had the chance to wonder who she could mean, she gave the girl a tiny shove towards the door. "That nice Dash fellow wants to take you to a movie. I told him it was okay. Have fun, sweetie!"

The door closed behind her before she could process what was even happening, but she recovered quickly enough and fixed Dash with a glare. "What do you want?"

Dash's idea of subtlety was roughly equivalent to an 18-wheeler running over a bicycle. He was the epitome of Dumb Jock. He was stupid enough to be dating Paulina. He was staring at Sam with an uncharacteristic amount of slyness and intelligence. "Oh, I just need your help with something," he said. That was not his usual vocal cadence.

"Oh, okay," she replied in as casual a tone as she could muster. "Well, um, let me just go my, um, purse…"

Dash's eyes glowed a brilliant shade of red as he reached out to grab her arm. When he spoke, it was with someone else's voice. "That's quite all right, Ms. Manson," said the ghost. "Where we're going, you won't need one."

Sam stopped down on his foot and twisted her arm out of his grasp, but he didn't seem to feel the pain. She barely touched the doorknob to run back inside, where she at least had a cache of ghost-fighting weapons and a Fenton Thermos, when the ghost grabbed her again and shot into the sky.

"You better hold still," he cautioned, smirking. "Wouldn't want to fall."

"Bullet!" she gasped angrily. "What do you want? I'm not telling you where Danny went."

"No? Guess I have no use for you, then." He chuckled, a low sound of menace. Suddenly, Sam was falling through the air, shrieking and desperately wishing Danny was there. Then, just as suddenly, her fall was arrested. She clung to Bullet for a few moments, until the desperation and fear wore off. "Change your mind yet?"

"What do you want?" she demanded again. She crossed her arms, gambling that he probably wouldn't drop her again. At least, not yet.

"I want to get Walker out of GiW holding," he informed her. "And your little half breed friend is going to help me do it."

About to acidly remind him that Danny wasn't in town, she paused. "Wait, Walker got captured?"

Bullet nodded. He almost seemed vaguely civil. "Trying to apprehend some brat."

"But isn't that a good thing for you? I mean, with him gone, Ghost Zone Penitentiary is yours, isn't it?"

Their altitude started to drop, and he phased them both through the walls of Fenton Works. It was clear where he intended to take her. "With him gone, there is no Ghost Zone Penitentiary." He graced her with a derisive snort. "Why do you think all the ghosts are coming into the Real World?"

It was true that ghost sightings and attacks had escalated over the last few weeks. Valerie and the Guys in White seemed to have things firmly under control, even without Danny around. "Still not seeing why I should care," was Sam's flippant remark.

Bullet slammed her against the wall next to the Fenton Portal, which seemed to have been wedged slightly open with a ghostly crowbar. "Because if I don't see Danny Phantom here within the next hour, you'll never see him again." He smirked. "Or anyone else for that matter."

She'd had the wind the knocked out of her, but she gasped out, "Danny's…not available…" She paused to get her breath back; fortunately, he seemed to realize that humans need air to talk and merely narrowed his eyes. "He's days away by now, even if I could reach him," she explained.

Adopting a tone of mock sympathy, Bullet said, "Oh, that's too bad. Well, at least you won't be around to see us turn your world into a new Ghost Zone." He lifted her off her feet again and acted like he was about to throw her through the portal.

"Wait, what?" she exclaimed, frantic.

"What'd you think would happen, Ms. Manson?" he laughed. "Shapeshifters, reality benders, dream controllers…you think your little ghost hunter squads have things under control now, but you haven't seen half of what we can do. Once Walker's influence is gone completely, this world is ours."

"Wait, wait, wait!" Sam yelled as he heaved her toward the gate. He paused. "I can't get you Danny. But! Maybe I can do something else for you!"

Bullet thought about that for a moment, then set her on her feet again. "Such as?"

"I can rescue him."

There was a short pause, and then he reached out to grab her again. She ducked out of his reach. "Just think about it! The Guys in White are equipped to fight ghosts, right? Me and Tucker are human. We can waltz right through their security."

Bullet narrowed his eyes and pulled his cape around him, staring thoughtfully. "You." That was either a statement or question. Sam couldn't tell which.

"You, me, and Tucker," Sam persisted. "We've snuck into places before, with Danny. Tucker can hack their security; you create a diversion; I get in and get Walker out. We'll be out by morning."

Well, the two kids had been responsible for freeing Danny Phantom that first time, he reflected. And very few of the ghost kid's escapades didn't involve them in some way. It was true that they didn't look like much, but if Public Ghost Enemy Number One considered them helpful enough to let them tag along…

At best, they were more impressive than they looked. At worst, news of the girl's death would probably bring the ghost boy home no matter how far away he was. Bullet was still dubious; after all, they could still be planning to double cross him. But he grudgingly nodded. "Why am I the distraction?"

"Because you're the ghost, of course." She certainly sounded like she knew what she was doing. "They'll consider you way more important than some teenage pranksters."

After a moment (he really couldn't think of a better plan), he nodded again. "Call your _friend_." He twisted the word into a sneer. "If you're not outside GiW headquarters in one hour, I'm coming back for you." And with that threat hanging heavy in the air, he vanished.

Sam frowned and yelled after him, "You could at least fly me back home!"


	3. Chapter Two

The Guys in White headquarters seemed to be an ordinary office building, much like any other government building. Located in Washington DC, it was where most of the day to day business of running an underfunded government operation was conducted. The building near Amity Park was more of an outpost, though few citizens bothered to differentiate. It was built like a white fortress, surrounded by both a high security fence and a ghost shield, and designed to house the most dangerous spooks the Ghost Zone had to offer for the purposes of public safety and research.

The security gate was a yellow and black bar across the road under the responsibility of a drowsy guard who seemed more interested in watching soap opera reruns on his tiny, portal television. The parking lot inside the fence was nearly empty of cars, but most of the building lights were still on.

"That is so wasteful…"

"Sam, they're a government organization. I don't think conserving electricity is very high on their list of priorities." Tucker tapped at his PDA, calmly ignoring the impatient girl next to him. "Okay…I think I'm in," he said at last. "The place should be pretty deserted, except for security. It we take this route," he showed Sam the schematic on his PDA, drawing a line accordingly, "we should bypass that. The only problem will be the cameras."

"And we've got Bullet for that." Sam glanced back toward the hovering ghost, who returned her gaze with a glower of superiority. "Assuming we can get him inside. Can you take down the ghost shield?"

"For a couple seconds," he said, nodding. "Any longer and someone will notice. Are you ready?"

"I was born ready."

"Don't you mean you died ready?" Sam quipped. There was an invisible snort, but the ghost otherwise ignored her.

"Okay, shield going down…now!" A tap of the PDA and the ghost shield flickered out. Went back up. The two kids let simultaneously let out their held breaths and crept forward.

The man in the guard shack was too busy talking to his favorite characters onscreen to notice as they slinked around beneath the bar and struck out for the far side of the lot. It was painfully well lit, and the teens felt very exposed. Still, no one called out for them to stop, and no alarms rang out. The door required a keycard to unlock it, but after several minutes of Tucker fumbling to find the appropriate sequence to hack it open, Bullet got fed up and intangibly shoved them through.

"Okay, so far so good," Sam whispered. "Bullet, you're on." The ghost nodded and flew off to be as noisy as possible. "Which way, Tucker?"

He tapped at his PDA a few times, then pointed. "That way." A few minutes later, the ghost alarm went off. Sam and Tucker ducked into a nearby broom closet while a bunch of agents ran by at the end of the hall. "I wish Danny was here," he murmured after the third time they had to dodge agents. "Then we could just be invisible."

"Knowing the Guys in White, they have invisibility seeing glasses or something," Sam reminded him. She peered around a corner to make sure no one was watching before pulling Tucker across. "How much farther is it?"

"Not far," he replied. "There's a containment unit thing for weaker ghosts, and then a series of shielded rooms for the stronger ones. That's probably where Walker is."

Suddenly, the alarm cut off and left the two with ringing ears. "Uh oh," Sam muttered, glancing at the ceiling. "There goes our diversion. They must have caught him."

"And that means they'll be after us soon," Tucker unnecessarily pointed out the obvious. "We should hurry."

They picked up their pace, ducking through halls and around corners at nearly at run. It was only to be expected that they finally crashed into an agent mere feet from their goal. He peered down at them through the black mirrored sunglasses all agents were apparently required to wear even indoors. On the one hand, they were intruders. On the other, they were kids. "Mind explaining what you're doing here?"

"Um…" Tucker began intelligently.

"There was a ghost," Sam explained, pointing back the way they'd come. "Uh, he chased us. In here."

"Right!" Tucker picked up the tale. "And we were looking for help."

The agent clearly didn't buy their story, but he didn't bother to question it, either. He grabbed them each by a shoulder and spun them around, then shoved them ahead of him. "Well, the ghost is dealt with, now, so there's nothing to worry about."

"Oh, good!" Tucker wasn't very good at being sincere. "So we can go home?"

The agent nodded, then smirked. "Just as soon as your parents or legal guardians arrive, and we can release you into their custody." He seemed to take special joy in their pained groans.

* * *

"And I don't want you seeing that Foley boy ever again!"

"That is completely unfair!" Sam retaliated. "It's not Tucker's fault there was a ghost!"

Mrs. Manson folded her arms, glaring down at her daughter. "And why were you out with him in the first place, hm? When you were supposed to that nice Dash from the football team."

"I don't even like Dash!"

"Sam," he father intoned in his warning voice. "Listen to your mother."

Sam stamped her feet and let out a frustrated growl. "Why? You never listen to me!" She ran to her room, ignoring their calls for her to come back, where she slammed the door and paced angrily.

It wasn't fair, she reflected. She was a hero. She had saved the city on numerous occasions. Granted, Danny had helped. Or she had helped him. Whichever. The point was that Amity Park would have been destroyed a long time ago without her around, and she couldn't tell anyone. Worse, if she did, her parents would just try to stop her instead of being proud. They didn't understand, refused to understand even. A knock at the door derailed her inner ranting. "What?" she snapped, certain it was her mother come to continue the argument. Instead, her grandmother wheeled into the room, eyes sparkling with amusement. "Sorry, Grandma…"

"For what, dear?" Grandma asked, dripping with innocence and prompting a small smile. She sighed nostalgically. "I remember when I was your age. Sneaking out at all hours to paint the town red…"

"Bet you never got grounded for sneaking into a government facility…" Sam muttered.

"Oh, you'd be surprised what trouble we got into." She reached over to grasp Sam's hand in both of her own, leaving something cool and rectangular in her palm. "I'll talk to your parents, Sam. You just worry about what's important."

Once the door was safely closed, Sam glanced down at her hand to see that her grandmother had given her back her cell phone. Not for the first time, she wondered exactly how much the elder Manson woman knew about her granddaughter's pastimes, but that was a thought for another day.

* * *

Elsewhere, a similar situation played out at the Foley household, with the exception that there was no aging matriarch to undermine Tucker's punishment. Fortunately, they believed the story about having been chased by ghosts into seeking help and refuge at the GiW building, and were more relieved that he was safe than angry that he had sneaked out.

"Did they try to ground you?" Sam asked.

"No, worse," Tucker explained, his voice the epitome of despair. "I have to help Dad repaint the house on Saturday."

"That's not so bad."

"'Not so bad'? I'm a nerd! I can't survive in the sun!"

Sam scoffed. "Tucker, I'm a goth. I'm the one who can only go out at night, remember? Now, listen. We have to do something about the Guys in White."

"Man, I don't know about this freeing Walker thing." Tucker tapped frantically against the screen of his PDA while a line of alien invaders drifted ever closer to his lone jet. "Are you sure Bullet was telling the truth?"

"I don't want to wait to find out," Sam replied. She was being as quiet as possible under the noise of her stereo; Tucker had no idea what she might have been up to. "Danny's not going to be home for weeks; it's up to us. Anyway, freeing him and Bullet can't make things any worse."

"Yeah, I guess," Tucker allowed. They were just two ghosts, after all. One quick phone call to Valerie, and they'd be history. "Hey, do you think we should call Valerie?"

"Oh, I don't think we need her help," Sam replied, unaware of how jealous and threatened she sounded in that moment. "I mean, we almost did it this time, and now we know what we're up against."

Tucker didn't laugh outright, but he didn't bother to hide his amusement, either. "Whatever you say, Sam. So how're we getting in? I don't think they'll fall for a ghost distraction while we go in the front this time."

"Probably not…" For a long time, there was only the sound of Bella Morte playing in the background, and the sound of a snap. "I got it. We can't go in the front, but I bet they won't be expecting us to go in the back."

"What?"

"Try to sneak out. I'll meet you at Danny's house." Tucker stared at his phone as the line went dead before snapping it shut. He sighed and went to put his shoes back on, wondering what crazy scheme his friend had in mind.

* * *

FentonWorks was remarkably creepy when no one was home. Tucker and Sam both had a spare key, just in case they caught any ghosts and needed to get to the Fenton Portal while Danny was on vacation. Tucker idly wondered if Valerie had one, too, but decided not bring her up in Sam's presence again. At least, for a while.

"Man," Sam said, her tone hushed for no real reason. "Should this place be this creepy?"

"Well, it is haunted," Tucker pointed out. He didn't seem to realize that he was also whispering.

Sam laughed quietly. "Not with Danny out of town."

The lights were out, just in case a neighbor thought someone was trying to rob the place and called the police. Sam had a flashlight, which she tried to shine only on the floor. The house was full of weird shapes, though. An out of place mound on the table looked like thermal goggles when the light hit it; knowing the Fentons, it was probably spectral vision instead of heat vision. A hulking thing in one corner turned out to be the refrigerator. A pair of glowing eyes belonged to an ordinary stray cat sitting in a tree outside the window.

The basement wasn't much better; nothing was shaping like something ordinary, making it harder to dismiss perfectly inanimate pieces of machinery as inanimate pieces of machinery. Unable to stand it any longer, Tucker checked that the basement door was closed properly and flipped on the light. Suddenly, it was a perfectly normal house again, for the Fenton home. "Now, why are we here?" he asked, speaking in normal volume.

Sam grinned and jerked a thumb toward the Specter Speeder.


End file.
